Family Talk: Explaining Black History Month

As you very well may, and should know, it is Black History Month. With Black History being so deeply rooted in United States' history, I do feel that it is important to highlight the significance to kids, as a necessary part of their education and upbringing.

With that said, I think we would all agree that a lot of the subject matter surrounding Black History can be hard, for lack of a better term, to explain to kids. While I believe that it's important to be honest with children and give them a real perception of history, of any kind, and the world we live in, I think that the information we share needs to be age appropriate. I also believe kids are much smarter than we give them credit, and can comprehend more than we might assume.

Herein lies the dilemma of what to share and exactly how to do it. My son is very inquisitive, as are all other children, and I like being able to give him information that I feel his teachers may not, at least not with the honesty that I do.  My husband has the same sentiment as I do, if not more so, that it's important to be honest with kids about our history. I'm not sure he holds that same level of concern for filtering out certain details as I, which, at times, brings about debates between the two of us.

How much can you tell a child about the history of America and its acts of enslaving African Americans for hundreds of years? How do you explain the importance of Civil Rights Movements without going into some kind of detail surrounding the discrimination and subjugation of millions of people? And how do you highlight the immense accomplishments of those that rose above all that they faced to make a difference in this world?

Two years ago, when my son was getting ready to enter into the 3rd grade, he had 5 book reports he needed to complete over the summer, that spanned different genres. One of those genres was biography. While we were picking out his books from the library, I suggested reading one on Rosa Parks, which he did. While writing his report, I will never forget, he called to me from the dining room, while I was cooking dinner, and asked "Mommy, how do you spell arrested?" At that point I wondered if maybe that wasn't the best choice, only because I wasn't sure if other kids in his class would be reading it; I didn't want parents to think that I was choosing inappropriate material if their kids went home and asked questions about things he had written in his report. After all, he was just 7 at the time.

I am glad that he read the biography on Rosa Parks and that his knowledge is growing to a point where I feel that I can share more with him. As he gets older, I see that his understanding of history is expanding, as when I, or my husband explain certain things, we're not always getting a look of confusion. Teaching our children is not just up to teachers and schools. Parents should be the primary educators for their children and go further and beyond that which they're learning in school, especially when it comes to history.